The workpieces to be treated in a plasma installation, which are subjected to a heat treatment or a coating, must be charged with a defined distance of 1 cm, for example. This is normally done manually and takes a long time, causing a low utilization level of the installation. In practice, charging, i.e. inserting the workpieces into the workpiece carrier, has been performed outside the plasma reactor and the charged workpiece carrier has then been moved into the plasma reactor by means of a crane, either manually or automatically. This also requires a complex system technology and does not contribute to a substantial reduction of the time effort.